Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP |News details:Quartararo Starts 2025 MotoGP Season Showing Promising Pace in Buriram Friday Practice

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The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team started the 2025 MotoGP season today with two Friday sessions. Fabio Quartararo showed good pace at the Chang International Circuit and secured 8th place and a direct Q2 spot in the Grand Prix of Thailand Practice session. Álex Rins struggled to challenge for a top-10 result. He was unlucky to encounter some yellow flags during his time attack and ended the Practice in 17th place, which puts him on tomorrow's Q1 entry list.

Buriram (Thailand), 28th February 2025

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo had a productive start to the 2025 MotoGP championship challenge. He began the Grand Prix of Thailand showing good pace in the two sunny Friday sessions. He finished the Practice in 8th position, earning a place in tomorrow's Q2. Álex Rins noticed progress but still ended the afternoon session in 17th, which means he will take part in tomorrow's Q1.

Quartararo had a good FP1, which he wrapped up in third position. It left him feeling confident that he could also compete for a top-10 placement in the sweltering afternoon session. The Frenchman started his time attack in the final 15 minutes and briefly secured third place before the competition upped the ante. The Yamaha man found himself in eighth place as he made a quick stop. He then dug deep and went on to clock a 1'29.485s on lap 23/27, which again temporarily placed him third. Though some rivals managed to put in hot laps between yellow flags, the number-20 rider's efforts proved to be good enough. He finished in 8th place, 0.465s from first.

Rins had finished FP1 in 15th place and was determined to find an improvement during the afternoon session. In hot conditions, the Spaniard prepared for the all-important time attack at the end of the Practice session. The number-42 rider hit some yellow flags when he was pushing, causing his 1'29.798s lap to get cancelled. But he rallied and dipped under the 1'30s mark once more with a 1'29.982s, posted on lap 24/24. It saw him in 17th position in the Practice classifications, 0.962s from today's best time.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action tomorrow for the Saturday MotoGP sessions: FP2 will be held from 10:10-10:40 GMT +7, followed by the qualifying sessions from 10:50-11:30, and the 13-lap Sprint that starts at 15:00.

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

We have officially started the 2025 season, which is something Yamaha, our team, and Pramac have worked towards for a long time. We had hoped for more consistent results within our team today, but the extreme heat created some variables. Fabio made a good start this morning, and that helped him enter the afternoon time attack with a fighter's mentality. He did a good job, and it earned him a place in tomorrow's Q2, achieving his target. Álex was a bit unlucky encountering some yellow flags when he was on his second time attack. He was in a good rhythm and a good spot at the time but was forced to briefly stop pushing. In the end, his best lap and also a better lap that was cancelled due to yellow flags were both under the 1'30s mark today, showing he too is making progress. However, he is still searching for something that helps him shave off the 0.4s he's missing. The team will gather all of today's data and compare it to the testing data to find something for tomorrow. We are very curious to see what the Saturday Sprint and especially Sunday's Race will teach us. Those two sessions will reveal our current level, and we will determine how to proceed accordingly.

Fabio Quartararo

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

I think that we achieved our goal. We expected to be more or less in this position. We know that getting into the top 10 on the Friday and securing a place for Q2 is quite difficult, but we got it done. We can be quite happy about today's Practice. Last year I qualified in P6 here, but that was coming from Q1. Now I'm already in Q2, so I think that will be a big help for tomorrow. We want to improve step by step. The goal for tomorrow is to fight for the second row and then fighting for the top 9 would be nice.

Álex Rins

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

Today we did some good work, especially considering where we were before. It doesn't show in my position though. I did a 1'29.7s but then there was a yellow flag, and then on the last lap I ran wide in Turn 10-11, and I lost a lot. Even like this, a 1'29.9s was acceptable. The day started in a difficult way. I struggled to find rear grip and traction, but when we switched to the medium, it was 0.7s faster. So, we are now analysing it. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when we will continue our work.